Have You Heard the News That You're Dead?
by Shaggy the Cat
Summary: A resurrected 18-year-old L must survive college - and the haunting nightmares of his past life. Oh, and the fact that Fate wants him to die again and stay dead. LxOC. Rated M for Sexual Content and Violence. I do not own Death Note.


Chapter One: Cake and a Chess Match

Dorm number 34 was positively alive with music, alcohol, and bodies. College students as young as seventeen and as old as twenty-one all gathered in one room. Almost all were dancing, and some were so close together that they might as well have been having sex and no one would have known. The only one not joining in the festivities was crouched in the corner like a hermit, ash-black hair nearly hiding equally-dark eyes. Lawliet Ryuzaki, most commonly known as L. Also known as the World's #1 Party Pooper.

He really hadn't wanted to come, but it would have been rude to refuse and his loathed roommate Light had practically groveled at his feet, begging him to at least enjoy one college party before he graduated. And so far, he wasn't enjoying it. Or at least not most of it. He often judged whether going to such a party was worth it or not by the quality of the food, and the cake was good.

He sat there, slouched over, finishing perhaps his tenth piece of cake in the past hour and a half, when suddenly, out of nowhere, "You don't look like you're enjoying yourself."

The first thing his eyes saw were black-sneakered feet, then blue jeans and a white tank top with the black strap of a sports bra visible. What little bit of skin was showing was, as Eoin Colfer would put it, "bleached by computer screens". A thick wave of hair, an autumnal solution of brown, caramel, and ginger, fell to around her waist, and golden hazel eyes made direct contact with his own charcoal ones. To most men his age, she would have been considered fairly good-looking. But L wasn't most men.

His first instinct was to ignore her, but it would have been rude, especially since she had the guts to walk over to him and try to start a conversation. Besides, she carried a purse - a caramel-brown Fossil purse - which was only the woman's best weapon besides high heels.

"Not particularly. At least the cake is good."

She sat down in front of him - something he never expected a woman to do - and withdrew a small cardboard box from her purse. "You play chess?"

"Occasionally." The theory that she, too, played chess in her spare time was comforting, but he was suspicious that Light had somehow put her up to this, trying to get him to come out of his shell. Contact with other human beings, unlike forensics science, was not his strongest attribute.

A travelling-sized chess board was removed, then tiny handcarved pieces that smelled like balsa wood. "Blacks or whites?"

"Blacks." His suspicion was slowly fading. No girl, not even one put up to a dare, acted quite this way around him, so calm and friendly. Perhaps there was the possibility that she really had approached him of her own free will. That, however, still needed to be proven.

The chessboard was laid out and the pieces set up. She moved her far-right pawn one space forward without so much as a batted eyelash. "I hear you're not very social."

"Where did you hear that?" His suspicion was rising again. Black pawn moved.

"It's not exactly a secret. Your roommate has a mouth that's larger than his ego." That at least he could agree to. Another white pawn was moved. "You're L, right?"

"That's what everyone calls me." The black pawn in front of his king was moved ahead.

"I thought so. You're in my chemistry class." White bishop moved. "So what's Light like anyway, besides the huge mouth, I mean."

"Loud. Obnoxious. Keeps porn magazines open everywhere. What about your roommate?" Black knight moved in front of the king.

"The same, the only differences being she's a girl and we share an apartment. Not in a homosexual way, mind you. It's just that no one else would take her."

"I can understand why." This was quite possibly the longest conversation he'd had in years.

"Anyway, I hear you're at the top of all your classes, and the teachers are saying there's nothing left for them to teach you. Why haven't you graduated yet?"

"My parents felt that if I skipped grades, I wouldn't be able to fit in, which is already a problem anyway. Check."

"Same here. It sucks, doesn't it?"

"Agreed. Checkmate."

It carried on like this for three hours, playing chess and chatting in an intelligent manner. She never quite managed to beat him, but she put up a fight, which he found amusing. And L was rarely ever amused.

"So do you have any plans after college?"

"Detective work, and with my luck I'll be shot three days before retirement. You?"

"Graphic design, though I also hope to make a career whittling."

"So you made this chess set? Check."

"Yep, and plenty others. I have an entire bookshelf dedicated to the chess pieces I've made."

"Checkmate."

"How many wins does that make?"

"Thirty-four."

She smiled, a kind of playful lopsided grin, then folded the chessboard and placed the pieces back in the box. By now the party had died down, and most had left, leaving garbage, broken glass, spilt alcoholic drinks, and God only knew what else strewn about the floor. He felt sorry for the guy that had to clean this mess up. Luckily, no one had disturbed them, as though they had simply vanished into thin air. Perhaps it was just the embarrassment of being seen with the school's biggest so-called nerds.

"Well, this was fun. Maybe we can play again sometime. Oh, where are my manners? I never introduced myself. Hashiro Takahashi."

"Pleasure to meet you."

"Well, I'll be seeing you around, L." With that she left, leaving the black-haired man alone in the corner once again, surrounded by the scents of balsa wood and strawberry cake.


End file.
